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VANCOUVER — The houses sat in a row, part of the South Vancouver postwar boom, so close together they almost touched. They were built in the mid-1900s, one a roomy Tudor style, one a small stucco bungalow and one a whimsical storybook with a circular staircase. They had wood floors and big rooms and built-ins, attributes that are today called character but then were just standard utility.

Inside, three families, friends all, worked and gardened and raised their children. For decades, they shared backyard barbecues and the bounty from their gardens and, on more than one occasion, were known to raise a glass around each other’s kitchen table.

Today, the Tudor is gone, years after its owners moved to a condo, replaced by a monolith with an oversized carriage house. The storybook, its owners elderly, sold and moved on.

And the bungalow? When her husband George died, Margaret stayed in the house until she could no longer manage, and then moved into care. The house remained vacant for more than a year, and then Margaret died and it was sold and torn down, in its stead a mini-monolith.

This, then, is Vancouver in transition. For those with the memories of what once was, there is a sadness. But also a recognition that cities change, not just their physical landscape but their cultural essence. Old families move out, new ones move in, houses come down, houses go up. Esthetics change.

It’s the website that has been getting some attention of late, after posting photos of older Vancouver homes that are sitting empty. They are mostly homes like those described above, homes that once housed boisterous families, with apple trees out back and children skipping on sidewalks out front.

Indisputable is the reality that many homes, all over Metro Vancouver, are increasingly shuttered, awaiting the wrecking ball, their heritage value and livability seemingly of civic and historic inconsequence.

And with this change has come much outrage, and rightful indignation that city leaders are doing nothing to stop it.

BEHOV, though, takes it a step farther, making no bones about its political intent or its claim that too many of the houses featured on its site are vacant because developers and foreign owners are leaving them to rot as their land value increases.

There is worry, for instance, that as China continues to tighten its political reins, Vancouver real estate’s appeal as an economic landing strip for foreign investors from Asia is stronger than ever, especially given the lack of restrictive foreign ownership laws such as those in Australia.

Most of the outrage over these so-called ghost houses stems from the high real estate prices, the inability of locals to afford housing in Vancouver and the lack of decent rental properties.

No argument here that empty houses should be maintained, and not left to decay, without heat or basic maintenance. But most municipalities have civic bylaws that deal with ownership responsibilities, with trash and rats and unkempt derelict properties.

And it is not against the law to leave your house empty.

And if we make it so, who is going to knock on doors to decide if a house is truly abandoned, or awaiting rehabilitation or redevelopment, or involved in a long probate, or part of a property portfolio or vacant because its owner is travelling?

Who decides how long is too long, or just what constitutes abandoned?

What of that stucco bungalow in South Vancouver? Should Margaret’s family have been forced to rent it when she moved out, or pay a punitive tax because it sat empty for so long?

What of the snowbird couple that spends six months in Phoenix and leaves their condo dark? Should they be forced to pay a “keep the lights on” tax, or sublet to a homeless person?

What of the out-of-towner who owns a downtown condo as a pied-à-terre, and uses it only a few weeks a year? Should that person be penalized, perhaps with a “jealousy” tax?

Should a homeowner who moves for work to another country but wants to hang on to their property be dinged with a vacancy tax for not wanting to rent to strangers?

Who makes that decision? A neighbour? A civic committee? A website?

One withers at the prospect of that bureaucratic Pandora’s box springing open.

One of BEHOV’s solutions is to encourage the outraged to start squatting in those empty homes.

“One option,” it says, “is to move in on your own today. If enough people repossess empty homes the city will be spurred to act and require owners to ensure that homes are lived in prior to resale or redevelopment.”

Because squatting in property that doesn’t belong to you is the answer. Kind of like Oppenheimer Park, but with stained glass.

A sample BEHOV listing, complete with address and photos, is on West 2nd Avenue and is offered as “The Palace You and Your Family Have Been Looking For — And It’s Empty!” With beach access.

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Shelley Fralic: Those beautiful ghost houses of Vancouver

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